YAN-3
('yan' in the third tone)
Some 93 standard Chinese characters are
spoken 'yan'. There are about five characters that integrate the 'yan'-spoken
character 严 , but apart from this, there is very little graphic similarity
among them.
The initial 'y' is spoken like the
initial 'i' in 'India', followed by a 'y' as in 'yes', when it comes before the
vowel 'e' or 'a' (but not 'ao' and not 'ang'). It is spoken like the initial
'y' in 'yes', when it comes before the vowel 'o' and 'u', before the double
vovels 'ao', 'ou', and 'ue', and before 'ang'. When 'y' comes before the vowel
'i'， and nothing comes after the 'i', the combination 'yi' is spoken as
just one vowel, the 'i' in 'India'. However, if an 'n' or 'ng' follows the
'yi', then an 'y' as in 'yes' is spoken, followed by a 'i' as in 'India'. .
After the initial 'y', an 'u' is always spoken like the German umlaut 'ue'.
When 'e' follows 'yu', a German umlaut 'ue' is spoken, and after that, a 'e' as
in 'yes'.
When just the vowel 'a' follows an initial 'y', the 'a' is spoken like the 'a' in 'bar'.
However, when a 'n' follows 'ya', the 'a' is spoken like the 'e' in 'Ben'.
But when a 'g' follows the 'yan', forming
'yang', the pronunciation of the 'a' reverts back to that of 'a' in 'bar'.
So, Pinyin looks so easy, but can be quite tricky.
Combinations of two vowels are often
easier to speak than single vowels. In the first tone, the two vowels are pronounced with
equal stress. In the second tone, there is a strong stress on the second vowel.
In the third tone, the stress is equal, but when in
words of two characters / morphemes, a third tone morpheme comes before
a first, second, or fourth tone, only half a
third tone is spoken, and then, the stress is on the first syllable. And in the
fourth tone, there is a strong stress on the first syllable.
眼 = eye, small hole
The two-character version for the meaning
'eye' is:
眼睛 = yan(3)jing(-) = eye
Not to be confused with:
眼镜 = yan(3)jing(4) = eyeglasses
***
眼光 = yan(3)guang(1) = view, opinion, judgment (for example, on what is good
clothes, or who makes a good husband; but it is not commonly used for 'opinion
about', a verbal structure would be used for that.)
Sample sentence from an online lifestyle advice site for women:
我不在乎别人世俗的眼光. = Wo(3) bu(4) zai(4)hu(-) bie(2)
ren(2) shi(4)su(2) de(-) yan(3)guang(1). = I do not care about the view of
other people's traditions. / I do not care how it is judged in accordance to
the social conventions of other people.
***
肚膀眼 = du(4)qi(2) yan(3) = navel
屁眼 = pi(4)yan(3) = asshole (in the anatomical meaning,
never as insult)
扣眼 = kou(4)yan(3) = buttonhole
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